Inquiry 2 PartA

1.     Describe your target area for guided lead teaching.

During the guided lead teaching I will be teaching Comprehension. I will be using texts from the Houghton Mifflin book and will be focusing on visualizing.

2.     Approximately how much time per day is allotted for your instruction in this area?

30-45minutes

3.     Which Common Core State Standard(s) will you work toward?

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.7 Explain how specific aspects of a text’s illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting)

4.     How will teaching in this target area provide opportunities for students to learn important content and/or skills that relate to their lives?  In what ways does this learning include learning literacy, learning about literacy, and/or learning through literacy?

Teaching students how to visualize a story will allow them to work on comprehension. When a student is able to visualize what is happening they are better able to remember the story later. They create pictures in their minds as they read and can later remember these pictures to help them recall what the story was about.

5.     What types of classroom talk take place within this target area? To what extent is the talk teacher-led, student-led, or focused on higher-level thinking? What norms for interaction would you like to build within your classroom as you teach in this target area (e.g., see ideas in Chapter 6 of Strategies that Work, the Berne & Clark 2008 article, or draw from some of the readings done in TE 402 on classroom talk)?

For the most part my students have not worked in pairs or groups and I would really like to start getting them into the routine of it. At first a lot of it will be teacher-led but eventually I would like to move into more pair work. There are many teacher generated questions and the students will work together in pairs and discuss them and then share their ideas with the whole class. The questions that are asked during the stories allow students to demonstrate understanding of the text. I would like to see my student continue to work on partner work. I want them to be able to talk to their “elbow buddy” about what we are reading and not about what they are going to do on the playground. If I can get them to start this new routine and do it effectively that would be a huge success.

6.     Which ‘core practice’ do you want to work on developing/improving as you teach in this target area (refer to document “Resources for Developing Core Practices”)? How will focusing on this core practice contribute to your own professional learning?

The core practice that I want to work on developing is reading comprehension/strategy instruction. Comprehension means everything to reading. It is the primary focus before any other aspect of reading. If a child is able to read fluently and with great diction but they cannot understand what they are reading then there is still a huge issue. Many of my students are low reader and comprehension is still something they need to conquer. Teaching my students many of the strategies for comprehension will allow me to develop as a teacher. I will see what strategies work best for certain students and I will learn how to help a student who is struggling to comprehend.

7.     What resources within the community, neighborhood, school district, school or classroom do you have to work with in this target area?

My mentor teacher uses readings from the Houghton Mifflin  to work on our student comprehension so I will also have that to base my lessons off of. I have a plethora of reading material at my disposal; between the books my teacher owns and the books that are out in the pod we have plenty of grade appropriate books to read. My mentor also has a wide variety of leveled books that the students can use during independent reading. She also has posters that I can write on and use to help the students understand what happened in the beginning, middle, and end. Also, when we are able to see which students are struggling to comprehend we can have the support staff take them out and work with them in a program called ILL.

8.     What additional resources do you need to obtain?

I will need to create note cards so I can take antidotal records of what the students are learning. I need to create or find the “reading together chart” and “what good readers do” chart.

9.     How will you pre-assess your students in your target area?

The day before I start this lesson I will have them read a text selection that has no pictures. As they read it I will ask them to draw the pictures in their heads about what the words say. They will pretend like they are the director for a movie and visualize what they think the pictures should look like. I will hold a brief discussion after the book and have the students talk about what they pictured in their heads as I read. I will then have them return to their seats and draw a few pictures about the story and see if they comprehend the text.

10.    What else will you need to find out about all students in your class to help you develop lesson plans for your Guided Lead Teaching?

I will have to pay close attention to how well students pick up key detail of the stories they read. I also need to take a look at what reading level each student is at. This should help me to determine what kids need more work with different comprehension strategies.

11.    What else do you need/want to learn about the ‘core practice’ to support your planning and teaching?

I would like to learn more about how I can create a lesson that doesn't direct follow the curriculum but still includes the main ideas. I would like to also find ways to connect what they are learning to real life. I want to make this learning process as real as possible so they can see how to use this information in their everyday life.

12.    What concerns, if any, do you have about planning and teaching your unit?

Most of my concerns are about how closely I can follow the guided curriculum. What is considered too much?